Splitting a string on an ampersand (&) character

[ackitsme]

I have need to split a string based on an ampersand character.

I've tried the following code:

String[] result = mystring.split("&");

but it returns a JasperException error.

I've tried using "\&" but it tells me that it's an illegal escape character.

Is there a (hopefully) easy way to do this without having to resort to writing a separate function for it?

Thanks in advance


-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Charlie Silverman
Sr. Systems Administrator
Globalstar, LLC

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
We now return you to your regularly scheduled reality.

 

[Targol]

you can use a StringTokenizer for this kind of job like this :

StringTokenizer st = new StringTokenizer("mystring", "&");
while (st.hasMoreTokens()) {
  System.out.println(st.nextToken());
}

Water is not bad as long as it remains outside human body ;-)

 

[ackitsme]

I've never spent a lot of time with RegEx, which was really the problem here.

The String.split() command expects a regex parameter. The ampersand character by itself is not a valid regex parameter.

I did some digging and found that the correct way to do that within a regex is '\u0026'.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Charlie Silverman
Sr. Systems Administrator
Globalstar, LLC

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
We now return you to your regularly scheduled reality.

 

[ishnid]

Sounds a bit strange to me. Ampersands are perfectly valid regexp characters. The following works perfectly for me (Java 1.5):

String blah = "first&second&third&fourth";
String[] stuff = blah.split( "&" );
for ( int i = 0; i < stuff.length; i++ ) {
        System.out.println( stuff[i] );
}